A secretive cabal of some of the world’s most influential people known as the Bilderberg group will be meeting from June 9 to the 12th in St. Moritz, Switzerland — but this year, more attention than usual is being afforded to the gathering in the world press.

The shadowy organization — made up of about 120 central bankers, top CEOs, academics, European royalty, big bankers, high-ranking politicians and even representatives of the establishment media — has been getting together once a year since the mid-1950s. The group of “leading citizens,” as attendees are described on the group’s purported official website[2], gets its name from the Bilderberg Hotel in Holland where the first meeting was held in 1954.

Until recently, almost the entire international media establishment maintained an apparent information blackout of the yearly gatherings. Despite the fact that representatives of some of the world’s largest news outlets are always present at the conference, the vast majority of event [3]coverage[4] has generally come from the alternative[5]press[6].

The rise of the Internet and widespread media choice, however, appear to have had a major effect. This year, the Bilderberg conference is attracting far more scrutiny than past gatherings — in line with a steady trend over the last few years of increasing awareness surrounding the affair.

Several major media outlets around the world have already picked up [7]the story. And news of the gathering is expected to continue making headlines in the coming days as the conference kicks off Thursday. Some of the mainstream press coverage thus far, however, has focused primarily on downplaying the meeting’s importance and painting its critics in a negative light.

In a June 8 BBC article[8], the government-funded media outlet attempted to ridicule concerns about the Bilderberg meeting and the massive power wielded by attendees. Citing various authors, the state reporter desperately tried to link critics of the secretive meetings to “anti-Semitism,” a psychological feeling of alienation or powerlessness, and even belief in a world “governed by alien, reptilian shape shifters” expounded by a former sports journalist named David Icke.

“In fact, many conspiracy theories surrounding cabals hint at an anti-Semitic worldview,” the BBC Bilderberg piece claimed, citing the discredited Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Eventually the article quotes one expert who acknowledges that there could be some kernel of truth to Bilderberg theories about power-hungry conspirators out to rule the planet — and that there is indeed a “very strong move” to erect a one-world government.